Zebra Swallowtail
Eurytides marcellus
Insecta
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- A few weeks
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Social
- Solitary
- Biome
- Temperate forest
- Range
- North America
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Warning Colors
- Status
- Common
About
A striking swallowtail with bold black-and-white zebra stripes and long red-and-blue tail streamers; its caterpillars feed exclusively on pawpaw trees, the only plant toxic enough to make the adult butterfly unpalatable to predators.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA tiny ribbed egg laid on the underside of a host-plant leaf, hatching within days.
- 2.caterpillarA voracious caterpillar feeds and molts through several instars, growing rapidly.
- 3.chrysalisA chrysalis hangs sealed and still while the body remodels into a winged adult.
- 4.butterflyA winged adult with full scales and coloration, ready to fly and mate.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Genus
- Eurytides
- Species
- Eurytides marcellus